09 Feb 2015 Prof Tim Noakes dares his critics: ‘debate the science with me in public’
Cape Town’s, Prof Tim Noakes, is in fighting mood. He’s daring critics who have called him and his low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet dangerous to debate the science with him in public. Noakes was hoping that debate would take place with him and 15 of the world’s top LCHF experts at the Old Mutual Health Convention at the Cape Town International Conference from February 19 to 22.
Looks like his critics are going to be staying away and staying schtum, but Noakes is hopeful the debate will take place soon on an appropriate public platform.
Noakes has been pilloried from medical pillar to academic post for daring to do what any good scientist does: change his (or her) mind when the scientific evidence demands it.
In an interview with Noakes (you can view below on YouTube), Cape Town chef Jonno Proudfoot and co-author of Noakes’ best selling The Real Meal Revolution book, asked him about the genesis of the conference, and the visionary behind it: Karen Thomson, granddaughter of the late pioneering heart surgeon, Prof Chris Barnard, and founder of HELP (Harmony Eating and Lifestyle Programme), a 21-day in-patient programme, and an eight-week online programme to treat sugar addiction.
Jonno Proudfoot: Prof thanks once again for joining us on the couch. You have an announcement to make: February 2015, there is a world-first happening in South Africa, Cape Town once again, tell us more.
Tim Noakes: It’s the low-carb conference. It has a history, and we are very excited about what’s going to happen. The history begins with Karen Thomson who is Chris Barnard’s granddaughter. She was really upset by way I had been treated by my colleagues in the Western Cape, but particularly in Cape Town. She decided it was time to do something about it, so she asked four of the leading scientists in the low-carb movement whether they would come to Cape Town to be part of a conference she was planning. Without losing a step, they said: “We are right there.”
So she had committed to them. We had no funding or anything. The next thing that happened, was I went to Melbourne and spoke at a low-carb conference there. Eight people I met there, or through their contacts, said: “We are coming. We have to come. We don’t care if you pay us or not, we’re coming.”
All of a sudden we had 12 world class speakers, and in the last week we’ve picked up another three. So we’ve got 15 world class speakers, including Gary Taubes who has just joined us. We’ve had to put it in the Cape Town Convention Centre, and the costs have spiralled, so we’re not sure how we’re going to cover the costs. But we literally have 15 of the world’s best speakers on the low-carb movement.
If you think of any other conference: How often does Cape Town get the very best in the world in one venue? Almost never, and we’ve done that for this conference.
JP: If it’s a low-carb conference, does that mean it is going to be a religious gathering with everyone singing from the same hymn sheet? Or is there going to be debate and controversy?
TN: Well, we definitely are having a debate – if we can can find people who are prepared to debate us. What we’ve discovered in the last few weeks is that those people who were the most vocal, in the Cape Times and in various other sites attacking me in the media, when we invite them to come to the conference, all of a sudden they’ve got reasons why they can’t make it.
I think what they’ve seen is that they they have serious scientists to debate with, and they’re realising they are out of their depth. It’s always very easy just to repeat the same stuff, if everyone says it, but when the other information comes along, and you are made to look stupid, that’s probably what they don’t want to do.
JP: So do you have an invitation you’d like to offer any scientists?
TN: If there are any scientists out there who believe passionately that we are doing the wrong thing, and that the low-carb movement is killing all South Africans – as people frequently tell me – please come forward, and let’s hear your story. We can’t wait. There are 15 world authorities who are dying to hear what you say.
But remember, they have heard it all before, and unless you have really something with hard science to offer, it’s going to be a challenge for you!
See the interview here:
Related reading:
World-famous author Gary Taubes to speak at Cape Town’s world-first Low Carb High Fat Health Summit